- Liverpool are one of the sides keeping an eye on Samuel Chukwueze’s situation this summer.
Chukwueze is coming off the back of a good season with Villarreal, and now has just one year left on his contract. As a result, Calciomercato claim that the Nigerian is attracting interest from across Europe.
The height of this interest is reportedly coming from AC Milan. Said to be impressed by his form in Spain, the Italians are supposedly ready to speak with Villarreal over a potential deal.
However, no firm moves have yet been made. This has reportedly left the door open for the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid, Arsenal, West Ham and Aston Villa. All of that clutch of clubs, and more, are said to be still hoping to ‘snatch a yes’ from Chukwueze.
To get ahead of the crowd then, Milan are claimed to be set on making a fast move. With other clubs lurking, they’ll reportedly make contact with Villarreal in the coming days.
Now, this is actually a move that would make a fair bit of sense for Liverpool. Although they have plenty of forward options in the squad, they still don’t really have a back-up for Mohamed Salah.
All of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo can play from the left. Three of that four have been deployed through the middle. But it’s only Salah as a left-footer on the right. Chukweuze would change that
With a year left on his contract, he shouldn’t be too expensive either. At 24 he’s the right age and has plenty of experience at the top level. Samuel Eto’o has even called him ‘incredible’ during his time at Villarreal [GOAL]. High praise.
Coming from Villarreal, he also wouldn’t necessarily expect to be in this Liverpool team straight away. Certainly when the competition is Salah. But over the long term, perhaps Chukwueze could be the man to take the Egyptian’s mantle.
The only real issue we can see with the Nigerian is that, like Salah, he’ll likely miss a chunk of next season thank to AFCON taking place.
Without Salah, Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp are going to have to get creative. If they bring in a back-up who won’t be at the tournament, that would be an obvious solution. Chukwueze wouldn’t provide that answer.
Nevertheless, signings are made for years, not just one season and we still think the Milan target would thrive at Anfield.
